Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII

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It's official and coming to America. First details and screens inside.

By Jeremy Dunham

It's no secret that KOEI knows how to develop quality strategy titles, and after winning IGNPS2's Strategy Game of the Year Award in 2002, Romance of the Three Kingdoms stood tall once again as the cream of its company's crop. Unfortunately North American gamers have always been somewhat late in the ROT3K pecking order, and with the exception of the early PlayStation days, are usually multiple seasons behind the Japanese market. January 2002 was no exception to that rule as Nippon gamers in the region were privy to the eighth version of the series while Americans were still anticipating the seventh game that July. It was a little unfair to be sure, but at least we had something to look forward to. The accolades that Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII received afterward only proved further why it was worth the wait.

And so with another year down and a ninth installment recently announced in Japan, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII was officially confirmed for an American release late this afternoon. Packed with more features, more options, and an eight-person multiplayer mode that isn't masked as a hidden bonus, it could prove to be the best in the franchise so far. Then again, Japanese gamers already know that. American gamers, however, don't know much about the game at all, and with a virtual blackout of information concerning the import version nothing short of a truism, the need for a more concise explanation is an obvious understatement.

Set in second century China near the year 184 A.D. (around the fall of the Han Dynasty), Romance VIII tells the tale of three warring areas of China and its eventual unification. The same backdrop setting as that of the popular action slasher, Dynasty Warriors, Kingdoms' takes the familiar story and infuses a lot of the political details and conversations that aren't otherwise seen in Omega Force's beat 'em-up. Another great point that works towards a history buff's advantage, is that the outcome of the conflict can be reworked in a near-infinite amount of ways -- not limited by the pre-rendered cut scenes of typical action game fare.

If anything though, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII presents a much greater emphasis on character development and relationships; including the ability to bear children, marry a spouse, and collect up to three sworn blood brothers to follow your character wherever they go. As an added bonus, sworn enemies can be earned as well and will make themselves known by killing family members, destroying personal friends, or leveling proficient cities. Historical conflicts will be portrayed using this system as well: with friends like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei fiercely loyal to one another and rivals Ma Chao and Cao Cao constantly at each other's throats. Talk about attention to detail.

Speaking of attention to detail, it's been alleviated a bit in terms of how relationship meters are judged. No longer bogged down by a 100-point system, the type of interaction one has with an officer has been simplified into five key types: Intimate, Close, Good, Acquaintance, and Known (say goodbye to 30 straight turns of gift-giving folks!) Also fresh is the ability to play as eight different characters at any one time with up to 711 personalities to choose from and an all-new officer type known as the Regional Commander. The RC allows for more effective control of city groups and can appoint warlords individually one per city and can manage them independently for your ruler.

Ability sets and officer attributes have been refined as well with four basic attributes and 26 different skills to mold and shape them. The "Commerce" skill for instance will improve your relationship with merchants while "Eloquence" increases your chances of successful negotiation. Interestingly enough, if an officer acquires all the skills held within a single category, he'll learn a bonus "Super Skill" that gives him a distinct advantage over his peers. Finally, we have the 15 new skills known as "Tactics" that can be used in combat and range in power from beginner to expert. Customization and techniques in ROT3K are apparently deeper than they've ever been before.

Speaking of battles, their scope has been expanded on a great deal. Originally confined to a maximum of only four forces per fight, there isn't a single limitation to how many regiments can wage war against each other regardless of where their power bases are located. Additionally, field and siege fighting have been combined into a single process, and allow for more flexibility on the battlefield. Duels have also taken a much more prominent role in the flow of battle, and depending on the ploys used against an opponent, it's possible to defeat an enemy many times greater than your own. Successfully combo enough ploys during this process and you can even trigger a finishing maneuver that means instance death to whoever it touches. Oh and did we mention how important terrain and obstacles are to your unit's success now?

No matter how you cut it, Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII shows an incredible amount of promise. Populated by improvements like the ones we've named above in conjunction with the usual visual upgrades, enhanced gameplay components (you can now choose to start a campaign in any year or play a fictional scenario that involves every officer), and other such goodies, ROT3K VIII is already the forerunner for strategy game of the year in 2003. Whether or not it can live up to that promise, we'll continue to answer as we approach its late July release. Check back with IGN for more as it develops.